SHADOW RUNNING

  SHADOW BLADE SERIES

  BOOK 4

  YASMINE GALENORN

  A Nightqueen Enterprises LLC Publication

  Published by Yasmine Galenorn

  PO Box 2037, Kirkland WA 98083-2037

  SHADOW RUNNING

  A Shadow Blade Novel

  Copyright © 2025 by Yasmine Galenorn

  First Electronic Printing: 2025 Nightqueen Enterprises LLC

  First Print Edition: 2025 Nightqueen Enterprises

  Cover Art & Design: Carol Marques

  Art Copyright: Yasmine Galenorn

  Editor: Elizabeth Flynn

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any format, be it print or electronic or audio, without permission. Please prevent piracy by purchasing only authorized versions of this book. NO PARTS OF THIS BOOK WERE CREATED OR DEVELOPED THROUGH A.I., AND NO PARTS OF THIS BOOK ARE TO BE USED TO TRAIN A.I.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, or places is entirely coincidental and not to be construed as representative or an endorsement of any living/ existing group, person, place, or business.

  A Nightqueen Enterprises LLC Publication

  Published in the United States of America

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  Welcome to Shadow Running

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  The Silver Stag (Book 1 of the Wild Hunt)

  Playlist

  Biography

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Welcome to the Shadow Blade world, my latest urban fantasy series! It feels wonderful to be back in my comfort zone—or zones, rather. I plan on sticking around in urban fantasy, paranormal women’s fiction, and ooo-spooky tales. As to the Shadow Blade Series, I’m truly enchanted by the new cast of characters, and I hope you will be, too.

  Thanks to my usual crew: Samwise, my husband, Andria, and Jennifer—without their help, I’d be swamped. To the women who have helped me find my way in indie, you’re all great, and thank you to everyone. I’m thrilled to be among their ranks.

  Also, my love to my furbles, who keep me happy. My most reverent devotion to Mielikki, Tapio, Ukko, Rauni, and Brighid, my spiritual guardians and guides. My love and reverence to Herne, and Cernunnos, and to the Fae, who still rule the wild places of this world. And a nod to the Wild Hunt, which runs deep in my magick, as well as in my fiction.

  You can find me through my website at Galenorn.com and be sure to sign up for my newsletter to keep updated on all my latest releases! You can find my advice on writing, discussions about the books, and general ramblings on my YouTube channel, and exclusive material on my Patreon. If you liked this book, I’d be grateful if you’d leave a review—it helps more than you can think.

  September 2025

  Brightest Blessings,

  ~The Painted Panther~

  ~Yasmine Galenorn~

  WELCOME TO SHADOW RUNNING

  There are some places even a demon fears to tread...

  When Benny’s friend disappears, he comes to me, asking me to investigate an organization dedicated to helping the homeless. Benny suspects that something is desperately wrong.

  As we dive in, we discover that the organization has changed names over the decades, and every time they surface, dozens of those they claim to help have vanished without a trace. All signs point to some nefarious paranormal activity.

  Meanwhile, we agree to cleanse a haunted house and, in the process, make a discovery that turns my world upside down forever.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “What did you do now?” I stared down at Jangles and Murdoch, shaking my finger. “You know you’re not allowed to terrorize Mr. Crumbles.”

  I’d walked into the living room to find the two cats on either end of the bird cage, batting the bars, as Mr. Crumbles shrieked at them both. If he’d been out, he’d teach them a quick lesson in respect, but the Catalina macaw was sitting on the middle perch in his four-foot-tall cage, scolding them. The cage was on a table, allowing Mr. Crumbles a better view. That the cats were working together was good—they were getting along like they had been raised together. However, that they were working together to scare Penn’s macaw wasn’t exemplary behavior.

  “Go away!” Mr. Crumbles shrieked. Then he broke into song with, “Bad cats, bad cats, whatchya gonna do?”

  I snickered. Bad cats, indeed. Penn had taught him to sing that.

  “Move along, you two.” I shooed them away from the cage.

  They bounced into the kitchen for a bite to eat. I glanced at the clock. Time to start dinner. Penn was at a business seminar, and she’d be home in thirty minutes, so I decided to give her a break this evening. She loved to cook, but I made a mean mac ‘n cheese, and we had it at least once a week.

  I headed for the kitchen, but stopped as my phone started playing Mad About Mad About Me. The cantina song from Star Wars was my ring tone for Benny the goblin, mostly because he never failed to remind me of a much rougher and dumber version of Yoda. If pressed, I’d grudgingly admit that he was a friend, and I had grown to care about the doofus.

  “Hey, Benny.” I answered the phone with one hand, as I opened the cupboard with the other. I pulled out the elbow noodles and bread crumbs. “Let me put you on speaker phone.” I set my phone on top of the toaster. “Okay, what’s up?”

  “Hey Legs, can I come in tomorrow morning to talk to you?” Benny sounded unusually subdued. Given Benny was seldom subdued, I set down the food and leaned against the counter.

  “What’s going on, Benny? You sound worried.”

  “I am,” he said. “I want you to investigate something for me. I’ll pay you what I can.”

  I usually doled out the jobs to Benny. For him to offer to pay me, something must be wrong. “Sure, Benny. Of course you can. Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “But…I’d rather wait till we can talk in person.”

  There was no guilt in his voice, so I figured he hadn’t screwed the pooch again. I also detected real concern, and that worried me. Benny usually saved his concern for himself.

  “Be at the office at eight-thirty tomorrow morning and we’ll talk.”

  “Thanks, Legs. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” he said. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Sure thing.” As he hung up, I shoved my phone back in my pocket, wondering what could have worried Benny so much.

  Penn arrived home forty-five minutes later. By then, the casserole was done, hot in the oven. She dropped her bookbag on the sofa, then wandered into the kitchen, looking tired.

  “That smells wonderful,” she said. “I’m starved.”

  “Sit, I’ll bring over our plates.” I dished up the casserole, added a side of asparagus, and set the plates on the table. “Wine?”

  She nodded. “Please.”

  I poured white zinfandel for us, then settled down in my chair. “How was the seminar?”

  “Good. I’ve got more of a head for business than I thought.” She tossed a piece of paper on the table. “My mother emailed me this. I printed it out so you could read it.”

  I picked it up and glanced at it. “This is from your mother?”

  “Right. I don’t know what the fuck is happening.”

  I read the letter.

  Dear Penelope, I just received a formal dismissal from the Crystal Court. I have no idea what I did, and I tried calling but they’ve blocked my number. It appears I’ve been excommunicated. I thought you could find out what happened. This has to be a mistake. I haven’t done anything wrong. –Eileen

  I glanced at Penn. “Does she know you were kicked out of the Crystal Court?”

  Penn blushed. “No. I didn’t tell her, because I didn’t want her flinging a million questions my way. My mother seldom talks to the court, so I thought I’d have more time before she found out. By then, I’d be ready to tell her what happened. But it looks like they’re doing a purge on the rolls. I got a call from Duran this afternoon. At least three prominent witches have been expelled from the Court, so this isn’t an isolated thing and I’m not their only target. I don’t know what to tell her.”

  “Is there a way you can find out more before you approach her? Anybody high up in the court you can talk to?” I asked.

  Penn was a witch, and she was also half Fae, which is one reason the Crystal Court had decided to kick her out. She’d been kidnapped by Brim Fire, an organization determined to hand over the world to the Demonkin. We had barely scraped the surface of what was going on behind the scenes, but Penn had been cast out before we could investigate fully. They left her to fend for herself. And, since the Fae Courts wouldn’t acknowledge her existence—because of her half-blood heritage—she was basically adrift without a compass.

  “I know a few people, but I’ve been hesitant to approach them. I don’t want the Court punishing them for talking to me. I swear, Queen Elsabetha’s lost her marbles. Who knows what she’s capable of,” Penn said with a grimace. “Gee, I don’t sound bitter, do I?”

 
“Only a little,” I said. “Okay, well, why don’t you email her back that you’ll investigate matters? Don’t tell her anything else right now. That will buy you some time.”

  “Good idea,” Penn said, helping herself to more mac ‘n cheese. “Meanwhile, I’ll look after myself. Because it’s obvious that nobody else is going to back me up.”

  “You know that I will, and our friends,” I said.

  She gave a tired shrug. “Yes, yes, I do. I just feel alone. I belonged when I was part of the Crystal Court. I had rights, I had a magical community. That’s all gone, now.”

  “I get it,” I said. After a moment, I added, “Speaking of messages, Benny called me tonight. He wants help.”

  “He need money?” Penn asked.

  I shook my head. “Something seems to be wrong. And I’m not talking Benny-wrong, but really wrong. I’ve never heard him sound this concerned.”

  “Well, you’ll find out tomorrow,” Penn said. “For now, what do you want to watch tonight?” She carried our dishes over to the sink. “And what do we want for dessert?”

  “Ice cream?” I finished my glass of wine and brought in the goblets. “I’ll feed the cats while you rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.” I pulled out two cans of cat food and spooned the food into two clean dishes. with Jangles and Murdoch racing into the kitchen when they heard the sounds of the cans opening. “There’s a new show on. It’s about a real estate agent who sells haunted houses. Sort of a cross between House Hunters and Ghost Hunters—Ghost House Hunters.”

  Penn snorted. “Okay, that sounds like it might be worth a watch.”

  As we finished cleaning the kitchen and dished out our ice cream—apple pie flavor—I wondered how I’d managed before Penn moved in. We got along so well that it felt like we’d always been roommates. Taking our dessert, we headed into the living room while I told her about the cats trying to terrorize Mr. Crumbles.

  So, I’m Kyann Sarasan, and I’m half-demon. Until recently, I didn’t even know what kind of demon I was. My father was never in the picture and my mother refused to tell me about him.

  It wasn’t easy, growing up on the wrong side of the tracks. Oh, my mother tried. She really did, but we were always poor, always scraping by, until she was brutally murdered when I was fourteen. I ended up on the streets, trying to make my way in the world, until someone decided to get handsy with me and my inner demon exploded.

  Dante—a wolf shifter—witnessed the attack. He saved my ass by hustling me away from the body. After that, he gave me a place to stay, and enrolled me back into school, and basically played big brother until I grew up. When I opened my business, he joined me, and he’s been one of my best friends ever since.

  Together with Penelope—my other best friend, Orik—another one of our investigators and a Viking priest, Sophia—our receptionist and an oracle who was kicked out of Olympus for refusing Zeus’s attentions, and Carson—who is human and as tech savvy as they come—we form Shadow Blade Investigations.

  We investigate anything our clients need investigating. Along the way, we’ve created our own little misfit family, as we face danger and adventure together.

  And we always have each others’ backs.

  Next morning, the day hearkened bright and sunny. It was early May and we were having a warm front come through. While the month of May ushered in an average temperature of around 63 degrees, and there was still a decent amount of rain, most of the month was relatively nice. Sunny days, even if cool, were considered shirt-sleeve weather, and the flowers and trees blossomed out in full beauty.

  The dissonance between the sunlight and the lack of warmth never failed to startle visitors to the city, though those of us who were local were used to it. It was fifty-eight when I climbed into my car, yet because of the sunshine, it seemed like it should be in the upper sixties or low seventies. I opened the window a crack for fresh air and headed to work.

  Sophia waved as I entered the office. She held out a stack of mail. “Want me to gather everybody for the meeting?”

  We always had a morning meeting to set the day’s schedule.

  “Not till after Benny gets here.”

  Sophia wrinkled her nose. “Goblin funk was not on my bingo card for the morning.”

  I laughed. “Mine either, but it sounds like he might have an actual problem. Anyway, let me know when he gets here.” I peeked into Dante’s office as I passed by. He was actually at work on time. “Hey dude, meet me in my office?”

  “Sure thing,” he said. Dante was one of my best friends, along with being the co-owner of Shadow Blade Investigations. He was a wolf shifter, but unfortunately—he was a lone wolf. He’d been excommunicated from his Pack, except for his great-aunt Tilly, who loved him regardless of his supposed failings. She commanded enough power in the Pack so that the council of elders couldn’t fault her for still talking to him.

  Dante was also the most flamboyant man I’d ever met, and he reminded me of Owen Wilson’s character out of Zoolander. He was a lot smarter, though, and he was far less conceited. Today, he was wearing a black turtleneck, a pair of patchwork jeans, and a retro 70’s flowered overshirt, along with leather moccasins. His hair—long, shaggy, and blond, coiled down to his shoulders.

  I dumped my bag on my desk, shrugged out of my leather jacket and hung it on the coat rack in the corner of my office, then settled down to thumb through the mail. Sophia had sorted out the outstanding bills as well as the junk to deal with at the front desk. The remainder included a few requests for help, and there was one letter addressed to me that looked personal.

  Using my letter opener, I ripped it open and shook out the page. As I opened it, letters glued on the page made up a one sentence threat: leave him alone, he’s mine!

  Sighing, I tossed it on my desk as Dante entered the room. “Your stalker’s at it again.” I pointed to the letter. “We have to do something about this, Dante. Rowan’s not going to stop until we force her.”

  Dante groaned. “Crap. She’s been quiet for while and I was hoping she was over it. I swear, the woman’s moods change with the moon. She’s barred from my building, and I haven’t had a problem with her since she broke into my apartment.” He sighed. “Maybe it’s time to confront her.”

  “Do you think she’ll listen? You should get a restraining order.” I didn’t think that Rowan would pay much attention. She was obsessed with Dante, and while she hadn’t been escalating the past month, she was still fixated.

  “I’ll call Destiny and ask her.” Destiny was our contact at the police station. But she had already told us that unless Rowan tried something—apparently more than breaking into Dante’s apartment—there wasn’t much the cops could do.

  “I wish that we could blink and make her go away. And no, I’m not talking about offing her. I may be half-demon, but I do have a conscience.”

  Dante shrugged, looking frazzled. “I still feel I need to confront her. I have to at least tell her to stop—I’ve done so before, but this time, I’ll be so blunt that there won’t be any mistaking what I’m saying. I’ll record it. That way, I’ll have more proof when I apply for a restraining order.” Dante frowned. “So, what’s going on this morning?”

  “Benny’s coming in. He has something he needs to talk over with me and—” I stopped as Sophia buzzed me. “Yes?”

  “Benny’s here. Should I send him back?”

  “Yes, please.” I glanced at Dante. “He’d better not be bitching about his landlord.”

  “With Benny, you get what you get,” he said.

  As Benny entered the office, I was pleasantly surprised to smell that he’d taken a bath recently. Goblin BO was funky, but he smelled like lavender, of all things.